Like Tennessee, the Wildcats are coming off a Sunday loss, having fallen 86-71 at South Carolina. One of their starters has ties to the Chattanooga area, while another has a tie to the Knoxville area. Howard — the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018 — prepped at Bradley Central, while McKinney played at Fulton and chose the Wildcats over the Lady Volunteers. Kentucky shooters have averaged a league-best 40 percent from 3-point range this season.

KEY MATCHUP

The Lady Vols have largely guarded against the 3 well this season. Their problems have come when their on-ball defense has struggled, leading to extra passes for wide-open 3-point looks. Kentucky will try to spread Tennessee out and look for gaps to penetrate, which makes it even more important to do better guarding initially. As for the Lady Vols' offense, the ball movement that led to their wins has to return; the ball didn't move much against Missouri on Sunday, when a lot of shots were forced.